


Princely Prisoners and How to Break Them

by urisarang



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: #1 Lets hang out some time, #2 In The Hands of The Enemy, #26 If you thought the head trauma was bad..., Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Blood and Injury, Captured, Gen, It Gets Worse Before It Gets Better, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Self-Hatred, Whump, Whumptober 2020, prisoner
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-30
Updated: 2020-09-30
Packaged: 2021-03-07 21:21:32
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,507
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26734273
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/urisarang/pseuds/urisarang
Summary: Zuko thought that he knew what he was risking when he put on his mother's blue spirit mask to infiltrate Pohai Stronghold and break out the Avatar.  At the time he thought anything was worth the chance to return home, to regain his honor, and prove himself worthy of the crown.He was willing to die for it.After all, each year of banishment wore on his soul, if he could not capture the Avatar soon would there be anything left?The Avatar's shout of warning had him turning his head as time slowed to nearly a stand still.  Golden eyes watched as one white feathered arrow glided unerringly towards his face.  He knew in that moment that he had failed, that there would be no second or third chances.  A symphony of emotions cascaded over Zuko in the moment before it struck.  Fear for his life, regret at a life not lived, acceptance that this was the end, and finally a sense of relief that if nothing more his suffering would finally be over.When he woke up many hours later in chains with Zhao's shadow hanging threateningly over him, Zuko realized he was a fool and that there were far worse fates than simply dying.
Relationships: Zhao & Zuko (Avatar)
Comments: 12
Kudos: 42
Collections: Whumptober 2020





	Princely Prisoners and How to Break Them

Zuko wakes up slowly and groggily, which in and of itself is worrying as he has always been one who rises quickly, but added onto the fact that he can feel the sun in the wrong place lets him know something is very wrong . Fire benders rise with the sun and he has not slept through the first rays of Agni’s rise since the first days following the agni kai. . .

He blinks trying to get the room to come into focus and makes the mistake of shaking his head as it sends the room spinning. He squeezes his eyes shut and wills the contents of his stomach to stay where they are. 

Nausea, sensitivity to light, confusion, blurred vision, and wait, there it is: a throbbing mother of all headaches. He sucks in a breath through his clenched teeth at the feeling of every beat of his heart echoing inside his head.

Great _another_ head wound.

He really hates those, everything gets so fuzzy it makes it too easy to say or do the wrong thing when he can’t think straight. . .and it’s not like he needs any help saying or doing the wrong thing anyway, that’s all he ever seems to do no matter how hard he tries.

A loud clink pierces his aching head as he moves to pinch the bridge of his nose in hope of relieving some of the pressure from his headache. His hands move barely a few inches before they are stopped. Golden eyes reopen as Zuko carefully twists his neck to look up and sees the unmistakable sight of iron cuffs around his wrists. He jerks his arm but they are secured to chains, very familiar chains.

“Fuck.”

The events of last night hit him like a blow and if he were not already on his knees he would have fallen to them as reality sinks in.

He failed, for the last time. There would be no getting out of this one. It took everything he had to break out the Avatar when it was unexpected, there would be no second attempt. No one will be coming for him, he was as alone now as he always has been. He risked everything, his very life on a gamble that he could free the Avatar out from under Zhao’s nose so that he could capture the annoying air bender himself and earn his honor and place by his father’s side back.

He should have known better, he’s always been unlucky, he was a fool to hope the spirits might show him some kindness for once.

That or it was divine punishment from Agni for his treasonous act. To fight his own people, to go against his fath-- his fire lord for such a selfish reason? He deserves to hang in the very chains that held the Avatar, his nation’s greatest enemy. A self-depreciating chuckle escapes his throat, the first sound he’s made since he put on his mother’s theatre mask and became a traitor to his people.

His laughter echoes off the walls, the sound distorted and wrong. Just like him, maybe the family madness has finally made its appearance. When his father and sister would laugh the sound was dangerous, cutting. Like a predator.

The sounds that come from his throat could be mistaken for crying, but his cheeks are dry. He had learned long ago how to keep tears from falling, salt was agony on a fresh burn. He also knew that if he let that weakness take hold of him he might not stop. His life was one disappointing failure after another it was only fitting this it should end the same way.

His throat constricts cutting off the last of his half crazed laughter as the reality sinks in that he’s going to die. Maybe not now, maybe not in an hour, but he’s going to die. There is no way his father will be so _lenient_ as to burn off the rest of his face. It’s not as simple as disrespecting his war room.

His actions to free the Avatar? There was no grey to it. He committed a crime against his nation. The reasons behind his choice would make no difference, especially in the light of his resounding failure. He freed the Avatar, whose sole purpose was to bring about the end of the war. 

And he knew that. Hell, the Avatar is probably planning his next move right now instead of being in chains where he belongs. And that was on him, blinded by his desire to return home he proved once and for all that he really was without honor. He chose the needs of the few(of the one) over the many. 

How many lives would be lost to capture him again? How many more soldiers would fall once he became a fully realized Avatar? All those unnecessary deaths just so a pathetic and lonely little boy could go home? 

He deserves this. Just how he deserved to feel the flame of his father’s hand. He was bad, everyone could see it. Everyone aside from Uncle, who too often treated Zuko as if he were his own son. It hurt, physically pained Zuko to think of his soft and kind hearted Uncle right now.  
The teen knew his Uncle was pretending that his nephew was really Lu Ten, his lost son. The way he would smile softly and find a kind word for Zuko when a cruel one would work just as well- if not better. He had always hated that his Uncle never saw him, that he could only see his dead son when he looked at him when he thought Zuko wouldn’t notice.

He saw the grief and sadness, he knew what their relationship truly was. 

And yet he was weak. Always so weak Zuzu, his sister’s voice taunts him. So desperate for affection he preyed upon his grieving Uncle taking all the love the man had for his son and stealing it for himself. It was wrong, so, so very wrong but he couldn’t help himself. The rest of the crew hated him, would have thrown him overboard years ago if it were not for his Uncle’s interference. 

One person in all the world who cared for him, who stuck up for him and what does he do in thanks? He goes behind his back betraying not only his nation but his trust. Zuko hangs his head in shame thinking about how his Uncle will take the news. 

Will he cry as he did for Lu Ten? Will he mourn me? Or will I be remembered as the traitor prince and no more? Zuko wonders but his thoughts are abruptly cut off by the sounds of heavy footsteps approaching. He schools his face in the cool sneer that has served him well for so long but when the door opens up the mask of indifference slips off his face.

Zhao stands in the doorway towering over Zuko, flickering fire light from the torch beside the door casts half his face in shadow but it cannot hide the cruel twist of the man’s lips as he looks down at his captive. Heavy footfalls echo in the otherwise silent chamber as Zhao steps into the room, the door closing behind him with a sense of finality.

“Well, well, well. What do we have here?” His tone is unsettling but it is the older man’s eyes that send a fissure of ice cold fear racing through Zuko. His eyes have that same dangerous fire that his father’s had when he had brought his hand against Zuko’s face. 

There would be no mercy in his future, and not for the first time in his life he wonders if it would have been better to have just died already. If his own father had burned his face, what would Zhao do? A man whom he had publicly humiliated in an agni kai and openly disrespected at every opportunity? 

An involuntary shudder runs down his frame as horror scenarios run rampant through his mind and somehow the cruel light in the other man’s eyes starts to burn even brighter. Zhao's face twists into a mockery of a smile, all sharp edges.

“I wanted the Avatar, but a traitor prince will have to do.” Zhao reaches out with a gloved hand twisting Zuko’s face as if to get a better look but the teen wrenches his head away cracking his head against the unforgiving stone at his back hard. A small gasp of air escapes his tight throat against his will as the pain has him seeing stars for a moment. When his vision rights itself he finds Zhao crouching down next to him, close. Too close, and the look in his eyes? Might actually be worse than his father’s or his sister’s. 

Dark brown eyes are looking at Zuko as if he were a present he didn’t even know he wanted but now that he has him, he just can’t wait to _play_ with him.

**Author's Note:**

> This was meant to be a mega story with 90% of the prompts within it, sadly my HD took a dump and with it went most of my motivation. BUT I do want to finish this as intended once I get my motivation back so I'm leaving it up as a multi chapter fic to be updated later but most likely not in time for whumptober. 
> 
> Tags will be updated once I get that mojo going again but leaving it at "chose not to use warnings" just to be safe so no one can get mad at me later when other tags come into place. lol (I do like happy endings or at least hopeful so I can promise that at the very least)


End file.
